When the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda meets next Tuesday, June 2, one item to be discussed is a bill that would allow the administration to suspend certain laws during emergencies.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas said employers are finding it extremely burdensome, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, to pay gratuity and severance to employees being laid off at this time.
“There are certain provisions, and if I’m to quote the Attorney General and the Minister of Labour, there was a discussion yesterday among the tripartite interests governing labour laws,” Nicholas said during the post Cabinet press conference.
“As a result of the disruption caused by COVID, many businesses found themselves to be in a situation where they would have had to temporarily lay off their workers. Ordinarily, the conditions that would have affected employees — a period over 90 days — where an employer would be in normal circumstances be obliged to law off an employee over that period of time, a level of gratuity comes into play or severance comes into play.
“I think those conditions will prove to be extraordinarily onerous. The constitution provides for under the circumstances where we are operating within a state of emergency, that there can be certain suspension of certain conditions, and I believe that these are measures that have to be looked at. The consultation started and I believe that that is what is going to be presented to the parliament.”
